Railroad-spike.



use the same.

WILLIAM GRONKE AND-WALLACE T. noose, or camera, sasxn'rcnnwniv, cAN'AnA;

' RAILROAD-SPIKE.

s etificaaonor Le a Patent. Patented Dec.'6,"1910.

Application filed November 4, 1909 Serial No. 526,232. I

To all wkontit may concern:-

' Be it knownthat'we, WILLIAM GRoNKE'.

and human ,T. Rowe, subjects" of the;

King of England, residing at Canora,j,in

' the county of Saskatchewan-Dominion of.

Canada, have invented certain new andu'se-- ful Improvements inRailroadaspikes; and v, We do hereby declare-the following. to be afull, clear, and exact descriptionof the in-.

vention, suchas; will enable others skilled in.

the art to which itappertains .to make and This invention relatesto'frailroad spikes and its object ,i's-toprovide a novel form 'of'railroad-spike which, when 'onceinserted in a tie, may be renderedimpossible of w1th-' drawal,

. With the above and other 'objedts in View,

the invention consistsin general of a rail-, I

road spike provided with barbs pivoted thereto and withmeans to projectsaid barbs and hold them in projected position'when the spike is driven.

The invention further consists in certain novel details of constructionand combina-- tions of parts'hereinafter "fullydescribed,

illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and specifically set forth inthe claims.

In the accompanying drawings, like characters of reference indicatelikeparts in the .severah'views, and :Figure 1 is a side elevationof a spikeconstructed inaccordance with this invention, the-barbs being foldedinward. Fig. 2 is a section onthe line 2-2 of Fig. 1.; Fig. 3 is asection in the same plane as Fig. 7 'witli the' barbs,shown; pro.

jected."

The numeral; 10 indicatesthe body of a spikeand thisspike isO.(provided' with the usual head ll, The b y of the spike is preferablyof uniform width and thicknessthroughout and is rovide'd; with atapering point 12. Extending through the body 10..

1s a slot 13 and from the slot 13' through the top of the head 11 thereextends a tubiform opening 14. Adjacent the bottom of the body 10 andOpening through the 'slot 13 are' pin receiving openings 15- and in.these opene ingsare held pins 16 whereto are pivoted barbs 17 soarranged thatthey may close-in with their outer sides flush with thesides of the body 10. The upper ends of these barbs are beveled as at 18to form, in connection with the outer sides, cutting edges while theinner sides of the barbs are provided with a series-of ratchet teeth 19.Held to slide in-the opening, His a headed bar 20 provided with atriangular head 2 1which.is.

held in the 'slot 13. between the beveled p01.- tions 18 of the barbswhen the latter are closed in. The length of this member 20 with itshead 21 is such. that it may be in serted in the slot 13 and the bar orstem 20 pushed up into the opening 14. It will, of course, be necessaryto do this before the barbs are placed in position and the'pins 16inserted-to hold them. In the upper part movable pin .22 having a head23. I

In the operationof the device the pin 22 is removed and the spike drivenas is common with such devices. 1 When the spike has been driven solidlyto itsposition the .pin 20 is replaced and struck with the drivinghammer which results in. the triangular head 21 being forceddown betweenthe inner faces of the barbs. The result of this is that the barbs areprojected outward while of-the opening 14.there is provided a reat thesame time the. sharp corners of the triangular head catchin theratchet'teeth ofsaid barbs.

The pin 22 may then be re movedand utilized for driving other barbs intoposition. .By reason of this construction not only are thefbarbsprojected outwardly but if the spike be driven farther the barbs areprevented. from closing into the slot '13 by reason of the ratchet teethcatching on. the corners of the head 2l so that these barbs cannotclose. By'this means it is impossible to extract the s ike by driving itinto force the barbs wit in their seat in the slot 13 and'thenwithdrawingitl as theNmfl barbs can. never,--when once pro ected,':bemade to assume such position. w w

There has th'usbeen provided 'afSimple and eflicient device-'offthe kinddescribed and for the ,pur os e specified; p

Having thus escribed the i ventiom 'what is claimed as new, is

1. In a railroad spike, a bodynpirovided with a through slot nearQitsbottomextenm "ing longitudinally thereoflfsaid body fur-' ther'having-an opening extending from the in the lower part of the slot andadapted to lie entirely therein during driving ofthe spike, a plungermovable 1n the opening, 'a

head on'said, plunger to force said barbsapart whenmoved ownwardtherebetween, means to engage the upper end of the plunger to permit thesame being-driven downslot upward through the :head, a-pair of .barb'spivoted at their lower ends to the body.

Ward and means on the head and barbs to prevent retraction of the headafter the plunger is forced downward. p

2. In a railroad spike, a body provided with a through slot near itsbottom extending longitudinally thereof, said body further having anopening connecting theresides of the barbs to engage the angles on" saidhead when the latter is moved downward said ratchets preventingretraction of said head, and a removable pin in the upper part of theopening adapted to rest on the upper end of the plunger and force thesame downward when the upper endof the pin is struck. p

Intestimony whereof, we affix our signatures, in presence of twowitnesses. v

' WILLIAM GRONKE'.

Witnesses:

O. S. LEE, FRED BRADSHAW.

- WALLACE T. ROUSE. t

